US new jobless claims drop unexpectedly

New claims for jobless benefits fell unexpectedly last week but the number of people continuing to claim benefits reached a 26-year high. The Labour Department reported on Thursday that initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to a seasonally adjusted 509,000, from an upwardly revised figure of 530,000 for the previous week. That's significantly below analysts' estimates of 537,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.